New old multimeter

[TR3driver]

Anyone remember Lafayette Electronics?..... Paul?, Tom?

I know these aren't the same people, but you reminded me I meant to visit this place. I'll have to remember to do that next month when I'm back that way.
https://www.lafayetteelectronicsupply.com/

Burstein-Applebee was another great store, long since gone as well. I bought parts from them to build an electronic controller for my HO trains, back before I was old enough to drive.

 

[Gliderman8]

The Lafayette Electronics I was speaking of was in Syosset Long Island NY. I think they also had a store in NYC.
I spent a lot of time in that store making all kinds of projects when I was growing up.

 

[Boink]

Anyone remember Lafayette Electronics?..... Paul?, Tom?

I sure do. Those were the days...

 

[Gliderman8]

I sure do. Those were the days...

:eagerness:

 

[Boink]

Nearly all my old gear is gone. I still have a Kenwood TS-120S and maintain my ham license (and an old grid-dip meter for tuning antennas), but I doubt I'll use anything other than my multimeters.

 

[TR3driver]

Sorry, duplicate post. Got interrupted, then suffered a senior moment.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Former Radio Shack manager here, from '72-'78. Allied was acquired by RS shortly before I went to work at the RS store in Gretna, La. (maybe '69 or '70?). I think their focus became more in parts and electronic hardware, while RS was more finished products, along with parts. Lafayette was a major competitor, but didn't have the number of retail store locations that RS did. Both Lafayette and Allied were more oriented toward mail order than RS. I still have all my Realistic stereo gear that I bought just before I left the company. Still sounds great! Oh, and on topic, I have a Micronta analog VOM out in the garage that still works, along with an engine analyzer kit that I've never (yet) assembled.

Remember the capacitive discharge ignition unit kits? I built one of those and installed it on our first new car, a '73 Celica.

 

[DrEntropy]

Allied and McMaster were the go-to in my '50's kidhood. Lafayette was my Old Man's last resort choice for some unknown reason. We were in rural west Pennsylvania, so no brick-n-mortar nearby except a Radio Shack, in "town" until '65 or so.

As in Mark's case, I've a lot of the old stuff here, including the Old Man's hand-built rigs and amps, but the meters are about all that gets used. The Simpson's case is Bakelite, cracked and taped together due to some late '80's mishap he never explained. But it still works. My Hallicrapters SX-99 is on a shelf in the bedroom, the old Nikons and optics in another along with darkroom gear and obsolete computers...

Hello. My name is Entropy, and I'm a packrat. *sigh*

 

[NutmegCT]

Ah, yes - the olden days. Remember when TRS meant "Tandy Radio Shack"? and a TRS-80 was a computer? and right across the hallway was the Tandy Leathercraft store?

Still have the "embossed leather" key case I made. wow

 

[Bayless]

Haven't seen a RS since the last one close to me closed 5 or 6 years ago. A quick web search still shows 5 in OKC but 2 of them are already closed. We do still have a Tandy Leather though.

 

[DrEntropy]

Unfortunately, one of the reasons RS didn't make it is because their market niche more or less disappeared. There are a few electronics stores left, but not many.

One such is Allied Electronics. They have incredible inventory, at good prices; but only deal over the Internet (or by phone/snail mail). AFAIK they don't have a brick & mortar store.
https://www.alliedelec.com/

Another is Mouser (same story) https://www.mouser.com/

Digikey (ditto) https://www.digikey.com/

There are a few stores left in my area (near Los Angeles, CA), but my perception is that they are dying and won't be with us much longer. Torrance Electronics in Torrance, CA is my favorite.

I imagine other large cities still have similar stores, but that's not much help in Stamford.

Of course, there's always eBay, which usually has the lowest price if you know exactly what you need and don't mind buying 100 of them.

Funny, I just got a dozen magnetic N/O reed switches from DigiKey last week, to replace some fault generating ones in my home alarm system. And Mouser is my go-to for most discreet level components.

 

[Gliderman8]

A few weeks ago I bought 20 mercury switches for a tilt sensor on my garage door. The tilt sensor has a "ball in a can" type switch but it's not dependable; a couple mins with a soldering iron and I replaced the "ball in can" switch with the mercury switch and it's better than new.
By the way, I paid $4.42 for the 20 switches including shipping from way, way east of me :rolleye:

 

[DrEntropy]

:lol:

It may change but I'm currently pleased we can still find (on the 'net, anyway) discreet bits to fix our issues.

 

[Gliderman8]

:lol:

It may change but I'm currently pleased we can still find (on the 'net, anyway) discreet bits to fix our issues.

Amen for that. I still have drawers of miscellaneous bits from switches, lamps, thermal devices, etc that I use all the time.

 

[Basil]

Former Radio Shack manager here, from '72-'78.

Somewhere around 71 or 72-ish, before I joined AF, I worked at a Radio Shack for a while as a second job. The one thing that sticks in my mind about that time was that I always (always) had to ask every customer: "do you need any batteries today?"

 

[Sarastro]

I came to this a little late, but I enjoyed reading through it. I didn't know there were so many fellow electrogeeks here.

I still have the Simpson 260 that my father got me when I was a 13-year-old ham radio nerd (I'm 69 now, still licensed as W5VHJ, but not active). I have a bunch of digital meters, but the 260 is a godsend for certain things. Cars, especially, since automotive electrical systems are very noisy, and often upset digital meters.

By the way, you can get a decent 260 on eBay these days for about $50.

 

[DrEntropy]

I grew up with a couple W3xxx's as dad's pals. Learned CW early but never went for the General. That was about the time when puberty hit. :smirk:

 

[Boink]

I grew up with a couple W3xxx's as dad's pals. Learned CW early but never went for the General. That was about the time when puberty hit. :smirk:

Of course code is no longer required... BUT I still remember it fairly well. However, I doubt I could copy more than 5 wpm (and was up around 15+ when I got my General). At the time the FCC office asked if I wanted to go for Advanced, so I took that test too (unprepared) and missed passing by 1 question. So I said "OK, give me it again" to which they replied that I had to wait a month (or something like that). I left and just never got around to returning. That written, I believe the Advanced class license no longer exists (only Extra beyond General).

Interesting, too, to reflect on the changes in the exam. The early General class exam required you to copy a 5 minute continuous stream of code (with random mixed letters and numbers) where you had to get 1 minute in a row correct. That was difficult. Then they switched to giving you a QSO (conversation) followed by multiple choice questions about it (though even those were tricky because the choices involved various spellings).

I just renewed my license (N7ALJ) this year... good for another 10. Doesn't mean much but having had it since 1979 (Novice before that, WN7PWJ, back in about 1969), I just couldn't let it go.

 

[John Kuzman]

Formerly WA8YWE. Got my Novice license around 1966 and General in 1968. Sadly, I let my General lapse while was in the Navy. I could kick myself for letting it go. Had HeathKit, Allied, Knight and Swan equipment.

 

[Boink]

Formerly WA8YWE. Got my Novice license around 1966 and General in 1968. Sadly, I let my General lapse while was in the Navy. I could kick myself for letting it go. Had HeathKit, Allied, Knight and Swan equipment.

Being away as school I let mine lapse, so I lost the "W" call, but at least I got one of the very first "N" calls.